Ninite
https://ninite.com is probably the website I recommend the most, and also the site that people will ask me later what it was because the name Ninite tends to make people think of going to sleep rather than a handy site that has a heap of clean installers (ie: no extra stuff installed) that you can grab in a bulk package and make your PC more useful. And, regrettably, this is PC only; I don’t have a Mac equivalent in my quiver yet. My standard install of tools on a fresh PC install includes:
- Chrome
- Firefox
- LibreOffice (Free, MS Office compatible productivity software. Does not have an Outlook equivalent, but is quite useful.)
- Zoom
- Discord (My preferred chat program)
- Filezilla (Not needed if you’re never going to use File Transfer Protocol work, but if you’re thinking of building a website this might be useful)
- Putty (I don’t SSH or Telnet much these days, but when I need it I’m usually in a hurry.)
- VLC (A free and open source media player. It is amazing this product is free for how useful it can be.)
- Audacity (A free audio editor. I’ll expand on this later because it might need tweaking depending on your install)
- HandBrake (an open source video transcoder. Useful for converting from one video file type to another.)
- Google Earth
- Everything (A better, faster search utility for Windows.)
- Paint.NET (A surprisingly free and easy to use image editor for Windows)
- WinDirStart (A very handy tool to see a visual representation of what’s taking up space on your storage drive.)
And I’ll direct folks here to grab the installers for MalwareBytes or CCleaner when needed.
Adobe Alternatives (#LeaveAdobe)
You may have encountered issues with various Adobe products, and for most of them they make you pay for the privilege. Below is a non comprehensive list of alternative products that are, I believe, all cross-platform.
| Adobe Product | Alternative | Free? |
| Acrobat Pro | PDF Gear | Free for Now |
| After Effects | DaVinci Resolve | Free (there is a paid version as well) |
| Audition | Audacity | Free |
| Audition | DaVinci Resolve | Free (there is a paid version as well) |
| Illustrator | Affinity Publisher | Paid (non-subscription) |
| InDesign | Affinity Designer | Paid (non-subscription) |
| Lightroom | DarkTable | Free |
| Photoshop | Affinity Photo | Paid (non-subscription) |
| Photoshop | Gimp | Free |
| Photoshop | Krita | Free |
| Premiere Pro | DaVinci Resolve | Free (there is a paid version as well) |
| XD | Figma | Free |
OpenAudible
https://openaudible.org is a not-free tool I use to convert my Audible (audio book) downloads from the AAX format to MP3 so that I can store them on my home media server. There is a free alternative: Libation (https://getlibation.com/). I tried it and have no problem recommending it, but at the time it didn’t preserve the chapter tagging in the mp3 file. That’s not vital, but I was willing to pay $20 to get the upgrades for a year. My support is expired but the product still works.
I’ve had a few folks tell me that Audible has removed books they’ve purchased, so I make sure mine are all backed up and in a non-proprietary format.
Plex/Jellyfin Media Server
I’m currently using Plex (https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads) but am contemplating migrating to Jellyfin (https://jellyfin.org/downloads/server/). I’ve got a sizeable collection of digital music, audio books and audio dramas, home videos, and other media that I want to store and share smoothly. These are a couple of the best tools for the job. Today.
There are also related apps/clients for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS that make it handy for sharing with your household and accessing while away from home.